Fish cutting and dressing machine.



No. 848,450. PATENTED MAR. 26, 19C?.

, E. C. DELCB. IISH CCI'IINC ANDDRESSINC MACHINE.

APPLICATION IILED JULY 27, 190C.

4 SHEETS-SHEET z.

Fay/J I C 4, M

fwigmmo Cf @Ziff PATENTBD MAR. 26, 1907.

B.G.DEL0B. FISH GUTTLNGAND DRESSING MACHINE.

APPITIOATION FILED JULY 27, 1906.

MR :S

, QN @mi WHWESSES;

PATENTED MAR.` Z6, 1907:.-y

E. G. EELGE. ELSE GETTING ENEv DEEGSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27, l906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

rrnn STATES' PATENT OFFlQE.

EDWARD G. DELOE, OF ROARING SPRING, PENNSYLVAN.. FiSH *GUTTINGIV ANDlD'lESSlNC- MACHHNE.

No. 843,@50. Speccation of Letters Patent. Patented March 26, 1.907.

Application filed July'2'7, 1906. Serial No. S2S,06.5.

To all whom, t may concern:

Beit known that I, `Emir/*ARD G. DELon, a citizen of the United States,residing at Roaring Spring, in the county of Blair and StateofPennsylvania, have invented certain'new and useful improvements in FishCutting and Dressing Machines, of which the following is a specmcation.

This invention relates to improvements in iish cutting and dressingmachines of the type which are designed to receive fish, pass them froma receiving-table to a revolving Wheel carrying clamping devices holdingthe fish i'irmly while the heads are removed and the intestinal cavitythoroughly cleaned.

To' this end'thel invention has for itsobject the production of amachine for performing' the above operations in a simple automaticmanner, whereby a plurality of ish can be cleaned hyy oneoperation in ashort interval ottime.

While in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings the machine is moreparticularly adapted to 'the use of cleaning herring, the improvedconstruction provides means' wherebyv other kinds of fish ycan as easilyhe thoroughly cleaned bysimply changing the form or the rake that cleansthe intestinall cavity, together with rearranging the knifev to operatein sections, one knife to operate on each lish. A

Broadly speaking, the improved machine consists. oi an endlessreceiving-table where the ish are arranged in rows with their headstoward arevolving wheel and their backs being uppermost. Immediately infront of this endless carrier is placed the said revolv-l ing drum orwheel, which has secured toits outer longitudinal surface clam ingdevices which serve tc' hold the iish y-while carried to the knife thatsevers the heads, and after the intestinal cavity has been thor. oughlycleaned means are provided whereby the ish are deposited automaticallyin a -receiving-chamber.

'flhe following description explains in detail the scope ot theseimprovements and the manner in which l construct and apply the same inthe productionl of a machine for thel purpose described, reference beinghad to the following drawings, in which- Figure l is a complete sideelevation of the heh-cutting machinein connection with the endlessfish-carrier, which serves to `transfer the 4lish tov the revolving drumFigs.f2, 3, and #t i are plan, side, and end `elevational'I views of theendless carrier, showing more in detail the ish-holdingpoclets. Figs. 5and .6' are plan and elevational views or. the dus ,-secting wheel ordrum, showing'the lockingor l lugs located upon the vertical sidev ofthe drum. Fig. 7 shows agroupof detail. elevations of one of theU-shaped clamping devices. Fig'. 8 is' a detail elevationshowing theU-shaped clamping devices attachedto a clamprsupport.,4 Fig. 9 shows aplan view oi the bed or concave of the machine with the drum removed,and illustrating more particularly the. spreading devices to'v open theclamps that hold thehsh, together with the 7o manner of mounting theknife that severs the heads and takes a portion frein the under 'side ofthe sh, as'shown in Fig. lof the drawings. Fig. 1'0 is a sideelevational view of the machine-hed shown in Fig. 9, said view 7 5illustrating the method of attaching the knife to the operating-handleof the hed. Fig. 11 is a side .elevational view ci the parts shown inFig, 10., Fig. l2 is a sectional view on'the' line 2` 2 of Fig. 10,showing the sepa 8o rate compartments for each iish.

.Similar letters refer to similar parte throughout the drawings. d Theendless iish-carrier that iirst receives the fish is designated in itsentirety by the numeral l. This carrier ismounted upon al framework 2,that supports two drums 3 and 4, over which travels the endlesscarrier-belt 6. This heh-carrier is made such that a plu` rality of fishcan be placed in the pockets 7 gc' with their heads resting against thespacing-v block 8, as plainly shown in Fig. l ofthe drawings. Thisendless carrierbelt n is preferably made of some flexible material, suchas belting, upon whichis placed the springn g5" blocks for the fish,together withthe narrow strips that form pockets 7. in this connesA tionit will be observed by reference to Figs. 2

3, and il of the drawings that the endless,

belt 6 is equipped with a pluralityoirans-n roc vverse carrying-slats25, each ci which is pro-y vided thereon with a series ofthe saidfishholding pockets 7, which are of an upwardly? flaring shape to providefor holding the iishf infthe manner previously referred to. Atio5one'side of each transverse series lof the longitudinally-dis osedishfholding pockets 7 the carrier-he t 6 has mounted thereon atransverse upstanding-block constituting the aforesaid spacing hicck orstop 8, against rio which the head ofthe fish corne in contact,

plainly shown in Fig. l ot the drawings.

T he fish having been placed upon the endless carrierl 1, the operatortakes the handle 9 and raises 1t so the latch 1() engages the lugs 11,secured to the vertical side of the transfer-drum 12, which thus beginsto revolve as handle 9 is pressed downward. This revolution of the drumin connection with the movement of the arm 13 and link 1-1 serves tofacilitate the movement of the endless carrier 1. This constructionconstitutes what may be termed a ratchet-operating mechanism for theYtransfer-drum, and in addition to the feeding latch or dog 10, whichsuccessively engages the spaced lu gs 11 as the handle 9 is swung up anddown, the handle or frame supports 9a have mounted thereon check-dogs9b, which engage other lugs 111l and lprevent backward rotation of thedrum when the handle is moved to aposition for the feeding dogs orlatches 10 to engage the next lugs. Also this ratchet-operatingmechanism includes the said links 14, which are provided with beveledshouldered. engaging ends 14a, which ride over and engage with the catchprojections 14C, provided at the sides of. the endless fish-carrier.Hence the reciprocation of the links or pull-arms 14 necessarilyprovides for a movement of the carrier to bring the fish to a positionwhere they fall into the receiving-chutes 27 at the receiving side ofthe fixed machine-bed B, over which the drum or wheel 12 is supported torotate.

A downward movement of the handle actuates a knife .15, which travels ona guidingoam 16, thus severing the heads from the fish,

' together with a strip from the under side, as

plainly shown by the dotted fish-section in Fig. lof the drawings. Thedissecting-knife v 15 is arranged transversely of the machinebed B andslidably works at its ends upon the guiding-cams 16, which are formedwith upright sections 28 and lower approximately horizontal sections 29,upon both of which the knife slides. The downward movement of the knifeupon the upright sections 2S of the Aguiding-cams serves to sever thehead portion of the dish, while the knife as it travels' along thebottom section of the cams in an approximately horizontal direction.

takes 0H a strip from the underside of the fish, and hence opens up theintestinal cavity.

=The extremities of the knife or knife-bar 15 have connected therewiththe lower ends of operating-links 30, the upper ends of which links areconnected with the verticallyswinging handle or handle-frame 9.

The downward movement of the knife actuates the link 1-1, which movesthe endless carrier 6 forward, depositing fish to be operated upon insaid receiving-chutes 27. The clamping devices 2O in the drum 12 passover fixed clamp-spreaders 1.7 and catch the fish immediately behind thegills, holding it firm to be cut. The said clamping devices orfishclamps 2O are in the form of U-shaped springreceiving-chutes 27 pastthe knife 15 and onto the intestinal rake 18. The spreaders 17 arearranged in a fixed position above the chutes 27 and act as cams, whichpass within the fish-clamps 20 and open up the jaws thereof sufficientlyto permit the same-to spring over and into engagement with the fishwhile such fish lie in the receiving-- chutes 27.

It will be noticedv that 'one downward movement of the handle 9 servesto out the fish that are in the machine and also to deposit more fish inthe receiving-chutes to be caught 'by the clamps. After the fish havetheir heads severed'and :a strip taken from the under side a partialrevolution of the drum will bring the inside of the fish in directcontact wit-ha fixed rake 18, which removes everything from theintestinal cavity. With another partial revolution of the wheel or drumthe clamps pass over the fixed spreaders 19 and the fish operated uponis deposited in a receiving receptacle or chamber. lt vwill be observedthat the fixed spreaders 19 are arranged beyond the fixed rake 18directly in the path of the spring fish-clamps 20, so that the latterwill pass over the said spreaders 19, and thereby become forced open, soas to release the cut and cleaned fish.

A suitable register or counter 50 is suitably mounted on themachine-frame and o eratively engages the wheel, so that each time thelatter moves forward an accurate register or count of the fish is madepass through the machine.

It will be further observed that when the fish are deposited in thechutesv 27 preparatoryY to being caught by the clamps 20 there isprovided a shutter or flap-door 51, which is held against the lower endof the chute by the spring 52. When the drum 12 is revolved, theguide-wire 53 thereon engages the hook 54, which is attached to theshutter 51, and as the drum continues to revolve, the hook 54v beingengaged with the as fast as they guide-wire 53, the shutter graduallyassumes" the position shown in the dotted lines. This automaticactionthus allows the fish to pass to the knife, Vith a further revolution ofthe drum. the hook 54 becomes disengaged with the guide-wire 53 and theshutter 51 assumes its normal position, ready to retain the fish thatare deposited in the chutes 27 by the endless fish-carrier.

It is thought that from the foregoing description the many advantages ofthe hereindescribed fish cutting and dressing machine are readilyapparent.

I claim l. ln a fish Cutting and dressing rnachiru` a iisl'l-carrier, arotatable transfer-drum careesfiso rying fish-clamps, means for openingseid clamps at different points, means for holding the fish below thedrum, a dissecting-knife arranged to'move in two paths, an intestinalrake larranged beyond the knife, and an opernating mechanism comprisingmeans for rotting the drum, moving the fish-carrier, and reciprocatingthe knife.

2. In a fish cutting and dressing machine(- an endless fish-carrierhaving a series of fish- -holding pockets and spacingblocks adjacentthereto, a rotatable transfer-drum carrying a series of U-shaped springfish-clamps having gripping edges, fixed spreaders arranged at differentpoints and adapted t-o pass through said clamps for opening the seme, aseries of stationary receiving-chutes arranged to receive the fish fromthe carrier and adapted to hold the fish in position forbeing caught upby the clamps, guiding-cams having upright and horizontal Sections, areciprocating knife movable upon said cams and directed therebj' forsevering the head and e, bottom strip from the fish-body, and anoperating meehainsm coniprislng a swinging handle having operatingconnections with said iniif'e, ratchet engagement with the drum forrotating the seme7 and a pull-rod Connection with the endless carrierformoving the iattef.

3. In a fish ent-ting and dressing machine.

` e.. fish-carrier, a rotatable transfe drinn earrying fish-clamps,spreaders for opening said clamps at different points7 a shutter forholding the fish in the chutes', adapted to be antomaticalljyT openedand closed with the revolution. of the drum, a spring for operating theshutter, means whereby the shutter is .not opened until the fish areclamped, a dissecting-knife arranged to move in two paths, an intestinalrake arranged beyond said knife, and an operating mechanism comprisingmeans for rotating the drum, moving the fish-carrier, and reciprocatingthe knife.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflixmy signature in the presence of twoWitnesses.

